GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume I, Issue 53, 2 May 1874, Page 13

GENERAL NEWS.

On one point only has the Liberal party been obliged to join I with the Centre in opposing the Government— namely, the newspaper stamp tax. Even the ' Voikische Zeitung' declares thut the Government has sustained a severe defeat on this point, and will not be able long to stand its ground. " A greater defeat," writes this journal, • Bismarck's Ministry has never yet sustained." In Posen, the new year has been celebrated by the imprisonment of the Vicar of Loga, in the district of Traustadt, who has long been a victim of persecution and annoyance. He entered on his four months' captivity with the resignation of a true confessor, and his departure was solemnized by the tolling of the church bells, and the tenrs of the people. He will doubtless not have long to wait for companions in misfortuneA final judicial seizure has been attempted on the Archbishop of Posen ; it was impossible to discover anything in the stripped palace. The last fine inflicted upon him was of £300, bringing up the total to £3,300 The arrest of the venerable Prelate is considered to be imminent. It is expected he will be taken off to the prison of Frankfort-on-the-Maine, before he is tried by the ecclesiastical court at Berlin. On application of the tribunal of ecclesiastical affairs, Mgr. Ledochowski has been cited or the 14th January before the Court of Appeal at Posen, to undergo a first examination. His Grace has been since imprisoned. The Italian Government has at last taken legislative measures to put an end to the odious traffic carried on by certain families in sending children abroad to be turned into ambulating musicians and beggars. General Kanzler is quite embarrassed by the number of applicants for the honor of a place nmonp the guards of the Vatican. They are all men of rank and wealth who apply, only too anxious to have the honor of l.iyieg d wn their lives in defence of Christendom. The day following the 20th Septemder 1870, the Pope chose 100 men for his guard, and thos? men are all there still, except those killed two years ago, outside Porta Cavulleg^ieri, and they have been replaced. The diocese of Philadelphia ha* collected and sent in to the Right Rev. Dr. Wood a large sum of money for the Sovereign Pontiff. ° A few dajs ago the Very Rev. Dr. Chatard, the worthy rector of the American College here in Rome, presented this sum, which reached the handsome figure of 25,000 dollars in gold, to the Sovereign Pontiff. The happy Christmas senson is one of gifts, so the time of sending this offering to the Holy Father is very appropriate. Mr Jonathan Pirn, the member for Dublin is in Rome. The ca«e of the Irish properties in Rome, which are threatened with confiscation, has engaged his attention. The Pope replying, the other day, tc addresses presented by the pupils of the German and North American Colleges at Rome, said, in his address to the Germans, that on returning to their country they would meet with a terrific persecution which would remind them of that under the Emperor Julian. They must therefore arm themselves with patience and strength to undergo the struggle, and imitate the gloiious example of the clergy. Addressing the A mericans his Holiness said : " In Germany, liberty is oppressed, but in your country it i* complete and almost excessive or at least very dangerous. For you, therefore, the easy practice of the laws of Christ and complete victory over yourselves are virtues which are extremely necessary to aid you in vanquishing the temptations of bad example." The Duchess of Aosta continues in a very precarious state of health Her malady dates from the day of her departure from Madrid. Obliged to fly in all haste from the capital, and to bmve, only a few days after her confinement, the cold of the month of January, she contracted the germ of consunttition. The di*ease has how made such progress that a fatal terminati^ is apprehended. The Minister of Justice has introduced a Bill to render the cere raony ol civil maniage obligatory before the celebration of the religious rite. The commission appointed to carry out the liquidation of the ecclesiastical property continue taking possession of various convents. On Nov. 22 a large number of students were presented to the Pope. Amongst the youths presented to the Sovereign Pontiff were students of Propaganda from Australia, from Jutland, from Schwerin, from Smyrna, from Zante, from Santonn, and from the Cape of Good Hope — a regular cosmopolitan gathering which could only be produced by the Catholic Church. The Holy Father was surrounded by the Prelates of his Court, and had at his side His Eminence Cardinal Mertel. Addresses were presented to him by the Americas and German Btudents, and these and their replies to them have attracted much attention . Upon the 18th December hiß "Holiness received in private audience Dr Lynch, Archbishop of Toronto in Canada, and the Irish Bishops now in Rome, namely, Dr Conroy, Bishop of Ardagh, Dr McDevitt, Bishop of Raphoe, and Dr McCorinack, Coadjutor Bishop of Achonry. M. de Courcelles, the French Ambassador to the Holy See, has returned to Rome and has been admitted to andience by Pius IX. There is a veal Irish souper ut Rome, Mrs Gould, who is earnestly at work endeavoring to draw the poor children of the city from Catlio"hc faith by belly filling. The Genevan Council of 6tate have disoiissed the Abb<s Blanc from his office of prison chaplain in consequence of his " improper and persistent attacks upon the institutions of the country." The Catholics of Switzerland have sent a protest to the Government against the expulsion from the country of tlie Papal Nuncio. Here ia the oldest nunciature disappearing; ever since the 13th century fliere had been c Nuncio in Switzerland. The Federal Council has decided to hand the Papal Nuncio his passports, in consequence of the Pope's last Encyclical letter. On account of the disturbed state of Spain, the Archbishop ol Valentia, Mgr. Mar.ano Barrio y Fernaudes, who> has been created Cardinal, has gono in person to Rome to receive the Hat. By order of M. Ca?telar, the Spanish Prime Minister, the finest apartments of the Spanish Embassy at Rome have been placed at the disposal of the i c.v Cardinal.